


Revisiting the Waterfall

by anditwasstinky (thewicked)



Category: Free!
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-18
Updated: 2013-08-18
Packaged: 2017-12-23 20:09:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,023
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/930614
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/thewicked/pseuds/anditwasstinky
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In short, a love story.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Revisiting the Waterfall

**Author's Note:**

> De-anoning from the kink meme: "Haru really wants to tell about his first meeting with Makoto, but at the last minute he becomes flustered and tells the story about the waterfall."   
> http://iwatobiswimclub.dreamwidth.org/1476.html?thread=908228

Even several hours after he dragged Makoto out of the water, Haruka keeps glancing over at his friend every few minutes or so, worried something might still be wrong.  He’s only half-paying attention to Rei’s embarrassing story about everyone seeing his underwear, not really caring about how traumatizing it was for the first year.  Makoto hasn’t smiled since Nagisa won that childish game of amida earlier that evening, and Haruka knows that while he may be putting on a brave face for the other two boys, he’s still very much shaken by what happened.

Haruka can’t stop thinking back to those few moments of sheer terror where Makoto was barely able to breathe, where the only thing Haruka could feel was his heart pounding in his mouth as he bent an ear to Makoto’s mouth, feeling only the faintest wisp of air against his skin.  It was everything Haruka could do not to shut down, to keep going because if he couldn’t – if he didn’t – Makoto would be lost to him forever.  The rain hitting his back felt like a thousand needles pricking his skin as he tilted Makoto’s head back, and Haruka did his best to keep his hands framing Makoto’s face steady as he took in a shuddering breath, his body convulsing with the chill as he leaned in closer to Makoto. 

At first, he thought he’d missed when his lips pushed air onto Makoto’s cheek instead of into his mouth, but when the sound of his choked-up name broke through the din of the crashing waves behind him, the only thing Haruka felt was dizzying relief as faint green eyes turned back to him, staring up at him in wonder as Haruka tried to keep himself together, if only to keep Makoto from needlessly worrying about him.

Now Haruka feels as if _he’s_ the one needlessly worrying as Makoto continues to insist that he’s fine, he feels okay, everything is good now that he’s with his friends.  Except – Haruka knows that he isn’t.  He just _knows_.

Haruka doesn’t pay attention when Nagisa gives his makeshift die another roll, the sound of crashing waves flooding his senses as he finds himself checking one more time that Makoto is really safe, that Makoto is really sitting and breathing next to him, alive as anyone could be. 

“Oh, Haru-chan’s next!”

Haruka only stares blankly at Nagisa as he continues, eyes crinkling up in a cheerful grin, “Tell us a romantic encounter you’ve had.  Or, in short, a love story!”  He hears Rei and Makoto echo the last two words incredulously, and his heart starts racing as he looks down at his feet tucked under his knees.

“My turn?”  The words are out before Haruka realizes he’s standing up, and his stomach clenches as he sees the hesitant looks Rei and Makoto are sending his way.

“Haruka-senpai’s been in love before?”

“I – I have no idea.”

Makoto’s baffled confession sends Haruka’s stomach sinking, and he looks down at his feet to compose himself, thankful for the years of practice of keeping his face as placid as still water.

_Tell us about a romantic encounter you’ve had._

_Or, in short..._

A love story.  Haruka doesn’t have anything he considers to be a love story.  At least…

He thinks of Makoto, of meeting him when they were both barely out of diapers.  He remembers the way Makoto eagerly grabbed his hand and dragged him away from their parents, babbling on about some TV show Haruka didn’t watch.  They stopped at the edge of the Tachibana’s yard, and although they were only a few meters away from their parents, Haruka remembers feeling as though he and Makoto had been completely alone.  Of course, as toddlers, they’d just tumbled around the grass together, Makoto eventually bursting into tears when Haruka refused to laugh at any of the silly things he tried.  Still, Haruka’s life was irreversibly intertwined with Makoto’s from that day on, even if the two had been completely oblivious.

“When I was in grade school…”  Haruka remembers Makoto joining the swim club with him despite his fear of that _thing_ in the water, and Haruka had been struck by how brave a gesture that was.

_If you’re not there, it’s meaningless without you.  I want to swim with you!_

Haruka closes his eyes, willing his face to cool down with everyone’s eyes on him.  His heart is pounding in his chest, and all he wants is to open his eyes and tell Makoto that he – he wants to swim with him, too.  That as much as he talks about embracing the water and swimming for that, swimming without Makoto beside him is, well, unthinkable.

Except, he can’t say those things.  Not with Nagisa and Rei in the room, at least.  So Haruka talks about something else that happened on one of the rare trips his parents took him on.

“I was in grade school, and my parents took me to climb a mountain nearby.   That was where I had my fateful encounter.”  He keeps his face straight, knowing that any hesitation will only alert the others to the way his insides are roiling like the sea outside.  “I couldn’t look away.  That intensely beautiful – ” he squeezes his eyes shut tighter as he thinks of Makoto’s smile, “positively vibrant, sparkling and pristine – ” he sees green eyes shining at him under a rain-soaked rock, burning into Haruka’s with all of the energy of a – “waterfall.”

“ _Waterfall_?”

Haruka keeps his eyes closed, and he hopes the flush coming over his face is misconstrued as just another symptom of his obsession with water.

He hears a put-out sigh from Rei and a frustrated huff from Nagisa, but both are drowned out by the quiet sigh of relief that tips itself gently out of Makoto’s mouth.

_I have no idea._

When Haruka sits down, his eyes go to Makoto; he’s looking away, but Haruka can still see the flush of pink dusting his cheeks, and while Haruka’s concern for Makoto hasn’t abated at all, he finds he can settle a little more comfortably as Nagisa hops up to do an impression.


End file.
